Cat House

4 | Charlene

We turned around in a panic, both making eye contact with a random teacher. He was looking directly at us, angry eyes and disgusted face, either from us skipping class or smoking. He looked like one of the football coaches, and he started to come closer to us. A curse word flew out of my mouth before frantically grabbing my backpack and the stray cat. "We gotta go!" I yelled at Derrick, who was already making a run for it. Where we were going, I'm not sure, but we were both running away from the school and across the street into town.

Our feet smacked against the pavement, the cat meowed angrily in my arms, and my already panicking heart was on overdrive. This man just asked me out. He asked me, Charlene Graves, to be his girlfriend. I've never dated anyone before unless you count being married to my hobby/cats. What a thrill!! My mind was on a high, I was running on pure adrenaline. I just found another cat, I have a boyfriend, and we got caught smoking in the alley. All in one minute! Holy sh*t!!

That's when something crossed my mind. I never answered his question about dating. I looked at him, both of us still running despite being a long way away from the school. He looked focused, but I could see the hint of a smile on his lips. "Yes!" I yelled, catching his attention.

He looked at me as if I was crazy. I get that look from my cats a lot. And my Mom. It's pretty normal to me. "What?!" he yelled back, his voice shaking from running and struggling to catch his breath.

"I said yes, you idjit! I'll be your girlfriend!"

The smile on my face faltered when I watched Derrick trip and fall onto the pavement, tumble, and skid on the sidewalk. Stopping, I turned around and looked at his body on the ground. Was he dead? It didn't look like he was breathing. My cats could have a new playmate if so. I quickly shoved that thought out of my mind when I saw him push himself off the ground.

Shifting the cat in my arms to try and calm him down, I walked back over to Derrick and watched him stand up and wipe the dirt off of his black clothes. His jeans were now even more ripped and he had a scrape on his cheek. "Are you alright?" I asked, concerned about any other possible injuries. He just smiled, his cheeks glowing red both from blush and embarrassment from the scrape. His eyes were staring at me, watching and admiring. My cats look at me like that sometimes, usually before I show them the room. It's cute while it lasts.

"We're dating."

I smiled back at his cheesy grin. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend! Oh my god, oh my god, I finally got one! My cats will never believe it! "We're dating!" Oh, joyous day. They all said Crazy Charlene would never find love outside of her cat collection, but look at me now, Mom! I did it! "Yes!" I said both to him and myself.

He laughed at my enthusiasm. "You're adorable. Almost as adorable as that cat." I looked down at the gray kitty, whose eyes were wide open in fear and fur sticking up in all sorts of ways. My cats do that a lot. "Why did you grab it?"

He doesn't need to know that yet, or ever, so a small lie shouldn't do any harm. "Oh, you know, just add to my colle- I mean, adopt him. He's such a skinny little guy. I couldn't leave him back there alone. You know how I am about cats."

He nodded. "Are you taking him home now? I figured we couldn't go back to school. That one teacher will be keeping an extra eye out."

I hummed in agreement, petting the cat to try and ease its fear. It was calming down gradually, thankfully. I didn't like when my cats were panicky. I knew school wasn't an option with that coach searching for us, and I couldn't bring Derrick to my house. Not yet. "Depends. Are we staying together or are you heading home?"

"I'll probably head home, but you can come with me if you'd like," he said with a soft smirk. He did that a lot, the whole smirk look. It was cute, I liked it. I think I'm gonna marry him. Yeah, that's nice. And my cats would love him. I was already mentally planning our wedding when his voice interrupted my thoughts. "Or we can go to your place?"

"No! I mean, its a mess and there are cats everywhere. Lots of cats and... stuff. I'll need to clean a lot before you come over. Let's just go to your place."

A sly smile plastered across his face. "Alright, kitty." I smiled back at him. That nickname was very fitting and I loved it. We headed off in the opposite direction to his place, my mind going back to our future wedding.